Cross Training - Boxing Clever

I have been reading far too many running forums and am very easily swayed by those who advertise they have 3 marathons under their very skinny belts and manage 5K races in under 26 minutes. I also have a sneaky suspicion that in fact they may preach more than they practise, but being new to this regular exercise malarky, I'm trying to get as much info as I can.

Apparently its not enough to pound the pavement 4 plus times a weeks with hills and speed work, you need to eat right, drink obscene amounts of water and cross train.

Now bearing in mind I live with an exceptional cook who has the most potent sweet tooth in London, eating right is going to be a challenge. At present we have a cherry and blackberry crumble mocking me from in the kitchen and leftovers from an exceptional gnocchi and chorizo dinner begging to be finished. We dont eat badly. We just tend to eat a lot!

Water, thankfully, is not my nemesis, and although there may be small outbursts of panic as I cut back on the coffee, this I think I can manage.

So that leaves Cross Training. Having just joined Gymbox, the obvious contender is boxing, which my internet forum gurus also highly recommend for increasing stamina and upper body strength. Not wanting to leave anything to chance I hit the sales to procure:

Decent gloves -  which in hind sight are a tad too big! But do the job
Wrist wraps - these are very cool, you put them on and immediately start to feel pretty hardcore. And also a bit like a mummy, but that goes away when you put the gloves on

Sweat bands - I am unlucky, I'd like to say I glow, I don't. I sweat. A lot.
New shorts - which again in hindsight, I'm not sure I have the guts to wear. They are *short*!

I've just finished my saturday morning session of Thump (no contact, just contact pad work) and I'm impressed. I managed to burn 576 kals in an hour (according to my HRM), which is more than I do spinning - and I know my back and arms got a decent work out I should be in agony tomorrow...ouch. My co-ordination is way off so combos are tricky! My poor work out partner almost got smacked about the head once or twice when I went for a hook rather than a jab. Hardly Million Dollar Baby in the making, but its early days.

They offer early morning proper boxing classes too (in a ring - yes really! but without th Rocky music thankfully), so I'm going to add a few of those to the schedule and see if this helps boost my fitness without putting additional pressure on my joints.

Now to finish off that crumble...